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Pastel

I don't think any of you know how often I brag about you and the great work you show off in the Artist Daily Member Gallery. Recently I had several colleagues looking over my shoulder at the computer screen as I showed them the pastel drawings of Eileen Healy, who has posted several works that caught...

Dan Gheno, a New York-based artist and teacher, introduced me to the Pitt oil-base sanguine pencil, and it is my favorite material to draw pencil sketches with. I like it because it has a nice warm tone reminiscent of the marks in some Renaissance and Classical drawings and because it is waxy enough...

Drawing with ink takes the precision of a master draftsman and the skill of a watercolorist handling a fluid medium. When I was in school I was completely captivated by the silky dark lines of one of the most famous pen and ink artists, Aubrey Beardsley, but there are several artists working today whose...

Fall is my favorite season. It's the season for starting over and discovering something new, harnessing your potential and looking around you with fresh eyes. As an artist it is the perfect time of year to cleanse your "palette" and take on new creative challenges and methods of expression...

Dirk Hagner's depiction of dying sunflowers won a Juror's Choice Award in the Blossom Art of Flowers competition in 2007. An artist shuts the door on inspiration and creative possibilities when he or she withdraws from exploring subject matter because there doesn’t appear to be anything...

Sunset Mooring, Nova Scotia , by William H. Hays, 2004, oil painting, 38 x 28. With summer in full swing, I've been spending as much time as possible outdoors, going to concerts and plays, walking from place to place when I do my errands, and just finding every excuse for an outdoor excursion. Landscape...

If the eyes are the windows to the soul, then a painter needs to get them right when creating a portrait painting . But the "oval, circle, dot" anatomy of the eye that we all first learned as children is far removed from how to give the illusion of a real eye in your work. Here are a few tips...

I won't lie when I tell you that looking at artist sketchbooks is one of the things I love to do most. And I've found that the pages that I linger over are usually filled with landscape drawing sketches. It is like I can look at the drawing and imagine myself right there with the artist, drawing...

There is a lot we have to juggle in our lives. As I think I've told you before, I have a list to keep track of my to-do lists because there are so many little details swirling around in my head. I know it is pretty much the same for you. But I also know that when I am inspired, it is like the clocks...

In Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Invitation to a Beheading , the pencil is described as the “enlightened descendant of the index finger.” Clouds by Donna Levinstone, pastel painting. That sounds about right, especially considering the pride of place that artists often afford their pens,...

Amy Mann converted the living room in her Virginia home into a studio with generous shelving for her still life props. I remember the first time an artist invited me into his studio. It was truly a reflection of his personality and experiences—full of memorabilia from his travels in and around...

I’m from a card-playing family, so when it comes to discussions about artists using reference photographs, I always think in terms of watching for a “tell.” Like in poker—where players’ subtle mannerisms can reveal whether they are bluffing— portrait paintings created...

Plein air painting enthusiasts often talk about how different the painting experience is when you are painting outdoors , under the sun. There's a thrill that comes from the challenge of capturing the scene--a spontaneity that records an artist's impression as well as the information of the scene...

I love summer because I’m always on the go. It’s the best time of year to travel, and I just can’t seem to say no to any outing or adventure that comes my way. Want to take a road trip through the Carolinas, Court? I’m there. A holiday to Chicago? Sign me up. A vacation in California’s...

The sensitivity that is at the core of being an artist, whether a writer, designer, oil painter, or draftsman, is both a blessing and a curse. The paradox seems to be in how to maintain and nurture it while at the same time developing the necessary hardness to protect oneself from the bumps and bruises...